Enhanced Oxidation of Antibiotics by Ferrate Mediated with Natural Organic Matter: Role of Phenolic Moieties.

Environ Sci Technol

Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, School of Public Health, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, USA.

Published: November 2023

AI Article Synopsis

  • - The presence of antibiotics in water is a growing concern for public health and ecosystems, and traditional treatments to break them down often fail due to natural organic matter (NOM) complicating the process.
  • - This study found that specific types of NOM actually improved the removal of antibiotics like trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole when using ferrate(VI) under mild alkaline conditions.
  • - The mechanics involve NOM generating radicals that interact quickly with ferrate(VI), enhancing the breakdown of antibiotics, with similar positive effects observed for humic and fulvic acids from both lake and river waters.

Article Abstract

The increasing presence of antibiotics in water sources threatens public health and ecosystems. Various treatments have been previously applied to degrade antibiotics, yet their efficiency is commonly hindered by the presence of natural organic matter (NOM) in water. On the contrary, we show here that nine types of NOM and NOM model compounds improved the removal of trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole by ferrate(VI) (FeO, Fe(VI)) under mild alkaline conditions. This is probably associated with the presence of phenolic moieties in NOMs, as suggested by first-order kinetics using NOM, phenol, and hydroquinone. Electron paramagnetic resonance reveals that NOM radicals are generated within milliseconds in the Fe(VI)-NOM system via single-electron transfer from NOM to Fe(VI) with the formation of Fe(V). The dominance of the Fe(V) reaction with antibiotics resulted in their enhanced removal despite concurrent reactions between Fe(V) and NOM moieties, the radicals, and water. Kinetic modeling considering Fe(V) explains the enhanced kinetics of antibiotics abatement at low phenol concentrations. Experiments with humic and fulvic acids of lake and river waters show similar results, thus supporting the enhanced abatement of antibiotics in real water situations.

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10862540PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.3c03165DOI Listing

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